Do you know the message inside this gold Rolex?

A MYSTERY benefactor is trying to locate the owner of a 100-year-old Rolex pocket watch after finding the pricey antique in a Reading telephone box.

The Londoner - known only as "B" - says he stumbled across the £2,000 golden timepiece while visiting the town six weeks ago.

The watch, pictured here, is engraved with a heartfelt message that celebrates a couple's 50th wedding anniversary.

So touching is the message that the finder - who wrestled with his conscience for weeks over whether he should keep it - felt he had to contact the Evening Post.

In his letter B writes: "I have to admit my first thoughts were ‘great, how much is it worth?'"

"But after thinking about things and reading the inscriptions on the back, and more importantly on the inside of the watch, I realised it was a very old and very important watch with, I'm sure, a great deal of history.

"It is for this reason I decided it must find its way back to its owners or custodians.

"I thought about handing it into my nearest police station in London but I didn't think it would find its way back to Reading - more probably some storeroom buried beneath red tape and files.

"The watch is more than 100 years old and, from what I am told, very valuable."

We took the watch to Douglas Jacobs jewellers in Reading who confirmed it as an authentic nine-carat gold Rolex dating back to 1901, during the reign of Edward VII, and said it should be insured for £1,700 to £2,000.

We have also received the backing of the police who are supporting this unusual campaign to trace the owner.

Police spokeswoman Sian Hickman said: "We will be looking at whether we have any records of a watch like this on our system.

"I am pleased that we have a chance to give this Rolex back to whoever it belongs to and I urge anybody who knows somebody who owns a watch like this to tell them to come forward."

Now all the rightful owner has to do is ring the Evening Post newsroom and tell us what that inscription inside the watch says.